菜根谭

《菜根谭》，明代洪应明著。揉合儒家中庸、释家出世、道家无为等思想，并结合自身经验，形塑为一套出世入世的法则。

名字由来

书名取自宋朝作家汪信民：“人就咬得菜根，则百事可成。”

成书过程

洪应明，字自诚，号还初道人，是道士，但是其胸怀宽厚，见闻广博，经常出入私塾和佛寺，精通释、道、儒，该书即为三教思想融合之物。

评价

明朝洪应明《菜根谭》、陆绍珩《小窗幽记》（又名“醉古堂剑扫”）和清朝王永彬《围炉夜话》一起并称“处世三大奇书”。

The Caigentan (Chinese: 菜根譚) is a circa 1590 text written by the Ming Dynasty scholar and philosopher Hong Zicheng (Chinese: 洪自誠; pinyin: Hóng Zì-Chéng). This compilation of aphorisms eclectically combines elements from the Three teachings (Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism), and is comparable with Marcus Aurelius' Meditations or La Rochefoucauld's Maximes.

Title

Chinese Caigentan combines cai (菜; "vegetables; greens; (non-staple) food; dish; course (in menu)"), gen (根; "roots (of plants); bottom (of mountains)"), and tán (譚; "talk; conversation; discourse"). This compound caigen (菜根; "inedible root of a vegetable; cabbage stalk") is a literary metaphor meaning "bare subsistence" (originating in Zhu Xi's 小學; Xiaoxue; "Minor Learning"). The Chinese proverb Jiao de caigen, baishi ke zuo (嚼得菜根, 百事可做) literally means "[One who has] chewed vegetable roots [for lack of anything better to eat] can accomplish anything", or figuratively "One who has gone through hardships can do anything". "By vegetable roots, food such as turnips, radish, carrots and sweet potatoes is meant", says Vos.

English translations of the Caigentan title range from literal to figurative:

"Musings of a Chinese Vegetarian"

"Discourses on Vegetable Roots"

"The Roots of Wisdom"

"Discourses on a Simple Life"

"Tending the Roots of Wisdom"

"Zen of Vegetable Roots"

"Vegetable Roots Discourse"

Isobe clarifies the title as meaning "Talks by a man who lives on vegetable roots", or more freely "Talks by a man who lives a plain and humble life".

Textual history

The history of Caigentan editions is convoluted. No original text is extant in China, and the earliest printed editions are preserved in Japan.

Traditionally, the two received Caigentan versions are identified by whether they list the author Hong's given name Yingming 應明 or courtesy name Zicheng 自誠. These two texts have three early prefaces. The first "Zicheng version" preface is by Yu Kongjian 于孔兼, a contemporary friend who calls the author Hong Zicheng. The second and third "Yingming version" prefaces, dated 1768 and 1794, are by Suichutang zhuren (遂初堂主人; "Suichu Hall Master") and Sanshan bingfu Tongli (三山病夫通理; "Three Mountains Invalid Tongli").

Both Caigentan versions are divided into two ce ("books; volumes").

The Zicheng version has 360 (or 359) entries, and the Yingming version has 383. The first book is subdivided into four sections, titled Xiushen (修身; "Self-cultivation"), Yingchou (應酬; "Social Relations"), Pingyi (評議; "Critiques"), and Xianshi (閒適; "Leisure"); the second book is titled Gailun (概論; "General Comments"). Besides differing in number and ordering of entries, the Zicheng and Yingming editions also differ in content. "The Yingming version shows many more editorial changes and liberties", write Aitken and Kwok, and subsequent versions also exhibit "editorial excisions and additions". "Generally speaking ", say Goodrich and Fang, "the first part of his work counsels integrity in office, whereas the second part describes the joys of living in retirement. Its general spirit is that of the "Golden Mean"."

Scholarship tentatively dates the Caigentan between 1588 and 1591. Yu Kongjian's undated preface to the Zicheng version( provides internal evidence. It begins, "Sending [uninvited] visitors away, I am leading a retired life all by myself in a thatched cottage." The preface further says, "One day my friend Hung Tzu-ch'eng appeared with his Ts'ai-ken t'an which he showed to me begging me for a preface." In 1588, the Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620) demoted many scholar-bureaucrats involved in a scandal, including Yu Kongjian who retired to the lower Yangzi River valley, where he and his fellow exile Hong Zicheng lived. In 1591, the Caigentan was first published as an appendix to Gao Lian's Zunsheng Bajian (遵生八笺; "Eight Treatises on Nurturing Life"). Thus, the Caigentan reasonably dates from 1588 to 1591.